Gold futures are down more than 6%, earlier falling below $1400 an ounce for the first time since March 2011. Silver is down about 10% and is hovering around a two-and-a-half-year low. The sharp move lower comes after gold officially entered a bear market on Friday, falling more than 20% from its record peak.

Weaker-than-expected GDP data in China, the world’s second-largest buyer of gold, have added to the precious metal’s woes. Gold tends to be bought as a store of wealth in China, and weaker growth can therefore hinder demand for the metal.

The SPDR Gold Trust ETF tumbled to lowest levels seen in nearly two years after the break of a widely watched support area triggers some panic selling.

The $149-$150 level had propped up GLD over the long term, marking bottoms in late 2011 and mid 2012.

“The GLD violated a pretty big level on the technical front, and now you’re getting some panic,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. “That was a level a lot of eyes were watching, so you’re starting to see some pretty climactic selling.”

GLD down 3.7% at $145.41, lowest level seen since July 2011. Volume of roughly 26M share already trounces 30-day average 9.1M.

Meanwhile, spot gold tumbles more than 3%, lately down 3.7% at $1,505.30 after earlier slipping under the $1,500 level.

After a steep fall to start the year, silver prices largely leveled off in February, bouncing between $28.25 to $29.50.

But on Monday, silver broke lower with a 1.3% decline to $27.94 an ounce. And thus far Tuesday, silver is down another 1.7%, changing hands $27.47 an ounce. That is silver’s lowest level in seven months and is down 22% from its multimonth high of $35.10 an ounce on Oct. 4, 2012. The rule of thumb is, a decline of 20% or more from a significant peak defines a bear market.

To Colin Cieszynski, senior market analyst at brokerage firm CMC Markets, this week’s moves reflect a technical “breakdown,” and “the start of a new downleg.”

Our colleague Mark Hulbert over at MarketWatch notes that Oct. 9 seems to be an oddly common date for turning points in the stock market. Both the 2002-2007 bull market, and the 2007-2009 bear market started on, you guessed it, Oct. 9. So, does this mean another turning point’s at hand? Today is, after all, Oct. 9.

Not necessarily. Hulbert writes:

You might think that there are almost impossibly low odds that two trend changes this momentous would occur on the very same day of the year.

But you’d be wrong. In fact, this is a great illustration of how our gut instincts are poor guides to statistical truths.

Stocks are rolling along Thursday as if the U.S. jobs data were robust and Italy and Spain didn’t have a euro of debt. But, of course, financial markets face all sorts of headwinds that most investors don’t expect to dissipate soon.

And for many investors — or at least those with time horizons beyond today’s close — there’s a nagging question: Have stocks escaped the secular bear market that’s been in place since the collapse of the technology bubble in 2000?

The technical indicators are not looking good for the stock market these days.

The S&P 500′s steep drop last week and break below its 50-day moving average yesterday are “confirmation of an intact bear market that has been in place since May 2011,” writes Ari Wald, technical strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. ”Aside from a possible oversold pop, we believe this is a warning of further losses.”

Heavier volume on downside days confirms the trend, he notes, with 1165 a key support level.

The U.S. dollar fell to 84.15 yen in early European trading, hitting a fresh 15-year low, in a move likely to make Japanese investors even unhappier. Already they have sent the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average down 1.3% — part of its descent Tuesday into bear-market territory — worried about all the dents the pricier yen is likely to put into all those Toyotas and PlayStations sold abroad.

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